The National Science and Technology Council said it would hold meetings with national security and coast guard officials before dispatching research vessels, after a legislator revealed that there have been 11 territorial conflict-related incidents involving research vessels over the past five years.
As Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone overlaps with those of other countries, including China and Japan, its research vessels are occasionally driven away by those countries’ coast guard ships.
At a legislative budget hearing on Wednesday, independent Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) asked the council about its plan to handle harassment of research vessels.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
One incident occurred in late September when National Taiwan University-operated New Ocean Researcher 1 (新海研一號) was conducting research off eastern Taiwan, Huang said.
Believing it was operating in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, a Japanese coast guard ship issued a warning to the vessel, he said.
The Taiwanese coast guard sent its 500-tonne Hualien patrol boat as a precautionary measure, resulting in a 10-hour standoff, he added.
After the incident, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made representations to Tokyo asking it not to interfere with “China’s research work,” Huang said.
Calling the incident “embarrassing,” Huang asked council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) to respond, as well as restart the Taiwan-Japan Maritime Affairs Cooperation Dialogue.
Wu reiterated that China had no right to raise representations with Japan over the incident.
As a Taiwanese coast guard vessel arrived on the scene, Wu said he assumed that foreign affairs and national security personnel resolved the matter.
The annual Taiwan-Japan maritime dialogue has halted for nearly two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although it should restart now that the borders have opened, he added.
Huang said Taiwanese research vessels have been harassed by foreign ships 11 times over the past five years, citing council data.
In two incidents, the vessels were pursued by Chinese ships within 1 nautical mile (1.85km), he added.
Even a joint research project with the Philippines encountered harassment by Chinese ships, Huang said, adding that the Philippine government handled the issue.
Beijing’s increasingly aggressive gray area tactics have caused neighboring countries to raise their guard, affecting Taiwanese maritime research, Huang said, urging the government to review its navigation and notification mechanisms.
Wu said that incidents are not handled by the council alone, but in cooperation with the National Security Council, the coast guard and other agencies.
He vowed that that National Science and Technology Council would hold meetings with other agencies before research vessels are dispatched, to clarify the vessels’ tasks and procedures.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS